Hong Kong China Adviser Rejects Chan’s Vote Plan: SCMP

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- An adviser to China on Hong Kong
affairs effectively rejected key elements of a proposal put
forward by Anson Chan in an effort to break an impasse over
increasing local democracy, the South China Morning Post said.

Candidates for chief executive, the city’s top job, should
have the backing of “more than half” of the 1,400-member
nominating committee, said Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of
China’s National Association of Study on Hong Kong and Macau,
according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper.

Chan had recommended that a candidate need the support of
just one-10th of members. Lau also said Chan’s suggestion that
317 members of the committee be directly elected was
unacceptable to China because it “could exert too much
pressure,” the Post reported.

“Some people are worried about whether the proposal would
lead to a de-facto popular election of the chief executive
before the nominating committee starts work,” Lau said, as
cited by the newspaper.

The proposal from Chan, formerly Hong Kong’s top civil
servant, was aimed bridging the gap between pro-democracy
politicians, who want no limits on who can run for the top job,
and China’s central government, which wants to use the
nominating committee to ensure that only candidates it trusts
get a chance to stand for election.

Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law, which is backed by
China, says that the city’s next chief executive will be elected
by universal suffrage.